Anger at advisers’ £2m fees for resort revamp

One firm – Atkins Ltd, the official engineering design services provider for the London Olympics – has been paid more than £1.9m over the last seven years and is still engaged by East Riding Council in its efforts to regenerate Bridlington.

But critics have questioned the wisdom of the commissions at a time of drastic cuts to local authority finances – the council must save £43m over the next three financial years – and have demanded to know why the work could not be done by any of its own officers.

The authority has a well-staffed planning and economic regeneration directorate including a director of planning and economic regeneration, a head of 
planning and development management, a head of economic development and a head of asset strategy.

Mayor of Bridlington, Coun Michael Charlesworth, said: “It’s nearly 10 years now that this has been going on, their plan to regenerate Bridlington. They did admit at one stage spending £1.1m on consultants, but that doesn’t include the three or four quangos they’ve got. I think it’s disgusting, really. They don’t appear to have anybody competent in the organisation to actually do this.

“They shouldn’t really need consultants because they are very highly paid people.”

Specialists from Atkins prepared the Bridlington Area Action Plan, a development blueprint for the town for the next 15 years that was declared “sound” in August after a prolonged 18-month planning inquiry.

However, the inspector ruled out a key element – the development of the harbour top – to the frustration of the council, which argued it was “fundamental” to the plan’s success, and to the delight of the Harbour Commissioners, who claimed it would have threatened the operation of the port, which is home to one of the most lucrative shell-fishing fleets in England. The firm has also carried out independent property valuation, technical design work and “negotiation with major landowners and developers”.

Jacobs UK Ltd was awarded a contract worth £142,047 in June last year and has worked on the harbour and marina business plan and technical study to “provide a business case and value engineering judgment for a marina”, according to details supplied under a Freedom of Information request.

Former East Riding councillor Geoff Pickering, who gave evidence to the inquiry, said he was staggered by the fees. “It’s an extraordinary amount of money to have been spent on consultants and it’s something that requires further looking into to see if it is value for money,” he said.

“If it’s not they should take action to make sure they are not wasting any more.”

The council said £1.4m of the costs had been met by the now abolished regional development agency Yorkshire Forward. It also spent £80,000 representing itself at the inquiry.

A spokesman for the council said none of its staff could have carried out the specialist work undertaken by the consultants which had been engaged.

Explaining the commissions, it said: “Each of the above contracts requires specialist skills not available to a local authority, including the management and interaction of the various specialist areas, and these are best carried out by an experienced consultant in planning and renaissance projects.”